Hansen adds another mixed team gold

When Esmaeil Ebadi and Afsaneh Shafielavijeh took to the Wroclaw finals arena in the compound mixed team gold medal match, they had a chance to win Iran its first international gold medal in the event.

Halfway through the 16-arrow match, that gold looked on.

The Iranian pair were two points up, 78-76, and had just shot a perfect end of 40 points. But it was at that point, that the two mixed teams took alternate paths in the match.

World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen and Sarah Holst Sonnichsen posted a pair of tight 39-point ends to close the match, while their Iranian opponents struggled. Ebadi and Shafielavijeh put in a few eights, dropping nine points over the back eight arrows.

They watched the two-point advantage turn into a five-point deficit, and the Danes take another gold medal.

Final score: 154-149 in favour of Denmark.

“It felt good, apart from my eight,” said Sarah Holst, who picked up her first podium finish on the Archery World Cup circuit. “Too hot, but there was no wind so at least you could get off some great shots.”

It was a second Archery World Cup stage mixed team gold in a row for Hansen and Denmark, who was paired with Tanja Jensen in Antalya. Those two also collected silver in the event at the youth worlds in Yankton.

Colombia started 10-10, USA 9-9 in the bronze final.

The next two arrows, the story reversed and it was all level at 38-apiece after four arrows. The USA jumped a point ahead, 77-76, at halfway – but things were levelled after another four-arrow end, in which Colombia shot a point less.

Heading in to the last, the match drawn at 115, both pairs started with a nine and a 10 – then Braden Gellenthien and Crystal Gauvin drilled two Xs. Colombia needed a perfect score from the last two arrows of the match to force a tiebreaker.

Maja Marcen’s arrow, though, landed nine – and the match was done. Daniel Munoz’s final shot was nine, too, but it wouldn’t have mattered where it landed.

“I’ll tell you what just happened: Crystal and I were the third best mixed team compounders in the world this weekend,” said Braden Gellenthien. “The wind conditions were non-existant. Standing on that green turf it felt like it was 120 degrees Fahrenheit out there. It was rough!”

Weather reports read 95 Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) – but in the sun, it was hotter.

Gellenthien, who had team silver during the morning session on compound Saturday in Wroclaw, missed the 10-ring just once in the match.